NCJ Number
214355
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 98-117
Date Published
May 2006
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study examined the interaction of victim race and gender on the outcomes of capital murder trials in North Carolina.
Abstract
Results indicated that the interaction of victim race and gender was not a major determinant of death sentencing in capital trials in North Carolina. Indeed, there was a surprising absence of discriminatory effects for victims’ race as a predictor of death sentencing, which is in direct conflict with the findings of numerous previous studies and the majority of empirical literature on the subject. Factors that did predict capital punishment in North Carolina included young age (excluding the very youngest victims), defendant lower socioeconomic status, and retrials. Moreover, the overall model for the study had a relatively modest explanatory power, indicating a good deal of capriciousness during sentencing decisions. Data on 1,074 capital murder trials in North Carolina between 1979 and 2002 were taken from LexisNexis searches and follow-up information was obtained from public record materials (defendant and State briefs) accompanying the sentencing decisions. Information on defendants was drawn from the North Carolina Department of Corrections Web site. The unit of analysis was the sentence recommendation made by the jury; data were analyzed using logistic regression techniques. Future studies of death and life sentencing in the United States should continue to focus on the complexities related to such decisionmaking. Tables, appendix, notes, references